


Thinking About Spider-Man

by lionessvalenti



Category: Cracked: After Hours
Genre: Comfort, Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-28 22:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/679687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soren checks up with Dan to make sure he's okay after the events of the Spider-Man episode.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thinking About Spider-Man

Dan put his hat on again as they walked out of the diner. The wind got surprisingly cold as the night wore on, even in southern California. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept his head down. The conversation was over, and they'd had a good laugh afterward, but there was still a sting he couldn't quite shake.

Maybe he shouldn't haven taken it so personally, but this was _Spider-Man_. If he wasn't going to take it personally, then who would? Who would defend his hero?

"All right," Michael announced, when they were only two steps away from the diner, "who's driving me home?"

That shook Dan out of his pity party. He looked up and shook his head. "Not me. I drove him here. And to work this morning."

"I'll take you, Mike," Soren said as he fell in step next to Dan. "You're on my way."

"What happened to your car?" Katie asked. She craned her neck to look up at Michael's face. "You had one last week."

"There may have been some minor flaws during the reenactment of The Hunger Games at my house this weekend," he replied, pulling on a pair of leather driving gloves, even though he clearly wasn't going to be driving.

Katie raised her eyebrows. "You did a Hunger Games reenactment and when asked about your weekend, you opened with stealing cable?"

Michael shrugged. "You never know what I'm going to say next. Soren, can you drive me to work tomorrow? And maybe the day after that?"

"And yet somehow, I knew you were going to say that," Soren replied. "It's fine. When do you get your car back from the shop?"

"Who said it was in the shop?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Soren muttered, and Dan laughed.

"You got suckered right into that one, didn't you?"

Soren smiled halfway. "This won't last long. Hey, no hard feelings about tonight, right? I think we pretty easy on you, considering. We could have been a lot harsher. No hero is flawless."

Dan sighed. "I know." He paused as they bid goodnight to Katie, who had parked on the other side of the street, while his car and Soren's were parked one in front of the other. "I just... I can concede a lot of things, but Spider-Man is more than words on a page, or any storyline. He's more than a hero to me."

"They all are to all of us, Dan," Soren replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He hit the button to unlock his car doors. He motioned to Michael. "Get in. Stay."

Michael held his hand out for the keys. "Can I play the radio?"

Soren narrowed his eyes. "You don't touch the radio."

Michael stared at him for a second, and then removed his iPhone from his pocket, the earbud wires dangling from between his fingers, and smiled. "If you say so."

"Why'd you want to play the radio if you had your... never mind." Soren waited until Michael was in the car, and then turned back to Dan. "Remember when we did Batman? It wasn't easy."

Dan leaned against the back of his car. "How'd you get over it? You and Katie were weird for days after that."

Soren shrugged with one shoulder. "That was less from the fighting and more from the making out that ended the fighting."

"Oh." Dan's stomach sank. "Are you suggesting I make out with Michael? Because I've done that and it was..." He paused to make sure that Michael had his earbuds in place. "Unpleasant."

"I saw the video," Soren replied with a laugh. He moved next to Dan, the body of the car moving some beneath the added weight. "Just remember all the times you had fun ripping into everyone else's favorites. It's all got to come around."

Dan dropped his head back, staring up into the darkness of the sky, with no stars over the bright lights of the city. "You're right." He turned his neck so he was looking at Soren. "And you know how hard it is for me to say that. See? I'm conceding. Except that it doesn't matter what any of you say about Spider-Man. He's still the best."

"And it is absolutely your right to think so," Soren replied, bumping his shoulder against Dan's. "You don't even have to admit that you over-identify with Peter Parker to an unhealthy degree, because we all know that already. It'll be our little secret with the rest of the world."

Even though the wind was cold, Dan suddenly felt incredibly warm. He straightened up and smiled at Soren. "Thanks."

"Kiiiiiiiss hiiiiiiiiim. Kiiiiiiiss hiiiiiiiiim."

Dan nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up, and Michael was watching them through the windshield of Soren's car, his eyes wide, expectantly waiting. When Dan didn't move, and neither did Soren next to him, Michael motioned for them to get on with it.

"Do it already! I don't want to sit here all night," he said loudly.

"Me either," Katie called from across the street. Dan looked over and she was practically draped over the top of her car, watching them. "Just do it so I can go home."

"I thought you left," Soren said to her, his voice booming in Dan's ear. "How can you even hear him?"

Katie held up her illuminated phone. "How do you think? Now are you guys going to kiss or am I going to need to watch my Queer as Folk DVDs when I get home? I don't even know where they are."

"We are not going to kiss," Dan called to her, but he could feel his face heating up. He turned back to Soren and added, "We're not going to kiss."

"No..." Soren replied slowly, his gaze lingering on Dan's face. He brought his hand up to touch Dan's cheek. Dan shivered and he was not _that_ cold. "At least not with them watching."

"Huh?" Dan asked. He didn't really make a word, but the sound seemed to slip from the back of his throat.

Soren smiled. "You're not thinking about Spider-Man anymore, are you?"

"Spider-who?" Dan blinked as he realized what words had just come out of his mouth. He smiled a little and remembered how to breathe. "No, I guess not."

"See? You just had to let it go." Soren pulled his hand away and let it drop at his side. "It's not so bad, right?"

"Yeah, you're right, Soren. It's okay." Dan shoved his hands in his coat pockets so no one would see them shaking. "Thanks. And you weren't going to, you know, kiss me."

"Of course not." Soren walked around to the driver's side of his car. He opened the door and grinned at Dan. "Not yet, anyway."

Dan stared at him as he climbed into his car. "Yet? _Yet_? What does that mean? Soren, what does that mean?"

But Soren didn't reply. He just grinned at Dan through the windshield, turned on the car, and pulled out onto the street.

Dan turned around to watch the taillights fade into the distance. He looked across the street at Katie, who was still standing there. "What do you think he meant by that?"

"I think he meant that he's going to kiss you at some point in the future," Katie replied. He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "I'm going to go home and watch Queer as Folk. Do you want to come with me?"

"No," Dan said, probably not loud enough for her to hear. He cleared his throat. "Yes -- I mean no. I'm going to go home and... think."

"Don't think about it too hard," she said with a smile. "It's going to be okay."

He waved at her as he walked around to the front of his car. "Night, Katie," he said as he got in. He sat there until after she had driven away, and smiled a little as he finally slid his key into the ignition.

He definitely wasn't going to be thinking about Spider-Man tonight.


End file.
